The Tea Party Must Decide on Libya

Have Americans learned nothing from the debacles in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan? Butt out of foreign affairs. Withdraw America’s military forces from foreign soil. Seal the Mexican border, boost up Alaskan defenses, and stay out of other peoples’ business, especially in the Middle East.

The situation in Libya gives Tea Party leaders, wishing to distinguish themselves from the neo-con administrations of days gone by, a chance. Anyone arguing for military involvement in Libya, including the enforcement of a no-fly zone, should be disqualified from presidential office.

There is, as of yet, no constitutional case for American action in Libya. Tea Party members should be fighting any attempt to do an end run around the constitution. Congress has not declared war, and the situation in Libya in no way represents an emergency for America.

The European Union would be a much better lead dog here, as the majority of Libya’s oil travels across the Mediterranean, not over the Atlantic. Libya produces 2% of the world’s crude oil, with Italy its largest importer. As a result of the revolution in Libya today, crude oil output in the country has dropped by between 60% and 90%, or roughly 1.2% to 1.8% of global oil supply. The Energy Information Administration (EIA), part of the Department of Energy, assesses the Libyan situation as follows:

The current disruption is occurring against a context of relatively comfortable spare capacity. Oil inventory levels are generally high by historical standards. But they are not evenly distributed throughout the world and are markedly tighter in Europe, the primary market for Libyan crude, than in North America.

The EIA statement lends more credence to European leadership in any resolution regarding Libya and to continued avoidance by America. Tea Party leaders in Congress should come out strong against any involvement in Libya. And if there is to be military action in Libya, it should only be through a constitutionally declared war with defined goals and an identifiable enemy.

Meanwhile, America ought to be devoting its military resources to protecting people here at home. Radical Islamic terrorism is spreading in the United States. This morning, Robert Maginnis summarized the many successful and failed attacks the United States has seen in the last few years. Lone-wolf terrorists or small closely knit cells are threats to the U.S. homeland. To put the point across that America ought to be focusing on defense here at home, the Tea Party caucuses in the House and Senate should invite Mitchell Silber, the director of intelligence analysis for the New York Police Department, to testify. The NYPD has become one of the most expert groups in America in regards to counterterrorism and should be picked clean for knowledge on how to keep America safe.

A no-fly zone in Libya will eventually lead to U.S. troops on the ground and, as Pat Buchanan writes, another adopted Middle Eastern country. That’s the last thing America needs.